


Awkward Kissing Spectres

by Shane_for_Wax



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 07:24:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6647989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shane_for_Wax/pseuds/Shane_for_Wax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a different AU from the fics with Leng, Nihlus Kryik survives Eden Prime and goes on to help Commander Shepard in the war against the Reapers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Awkward Kissing Spectres

There were some things Shane knew and some things she didn’t. She was fine with that. Up until the point where the things she didn’t know interfered with her interpersonal relationships. She had no real idea on how to keep a relationship going, and was always so afraid of fucking up or losing the other person for any reason whatsoever.

While she didn’t fall under ‘never been kissed’ neither had she been kissed properly for quite a few years. Not since leaving the psyche ward after Akuze (when she had had a bit of a binge where sex and kissing and the like were concerned). 

She was human, so utterly human. And it worried her. She was woefully uneducated in turian culture, even though Nihlus and Garrus both had been rather patient in teaching her what they could (even though given Nihlus was an anomaly for a turian, his information wasn’t entirely something she could follow for the entirety of turians). She knew that there was an issue of compatibility. 

After all, she had lips and he had mandibles. And you can’t really ask someone before you kiss them  _how_ to kiss them in the first place. Not that it mattered, given that the first time that such a display of affection had happened spur of the moment thus making it impossible for her to ask  _anything_ really _._

“And this is why you don’t go off an’ do shit on your own,” the Commander remarked. It wasn’t romantic in the slightest. But it was them. 

She dragged him closer by the front of his armor, leaning up as much as possible to accommodate the difference in height (she was tall but she wasn’t turian tall). She honestly blamed the adrenaline for her actions, but there was definitely more to it than that. 

Her mouth crashing against his rougher one conveyed what she didn’t feel capable of saying out loud—  _I was worried, I care, I love you, I want you safe, you big loner idiot_. 

They hadn’t been a team this time. They had their own agendas, their own worries, their own missions. But that didn’t prevent her from wishing he’d tell her when he went somewhere, or even invited her. But then, who was she to cast aspersions when she did the same damn things? But she longed for them to be a team. Not just friends and whatever word you’d call people who ended up kissing each other after a battle. They had ‘argued’ about solo runs before, so it was nothing new. 

The kiss broke and she could see the surprise in his green eyes. His visage echoed the look, before eventually softening into warmth. She simply stared at him, waiting for him to say something. She wasn’t a smooth talker by any stretch of the imagination and she had always thought that if she ever did kiss him, it wouldn’t be on a battlefield. But then, given their occupations, it might have been more surprising if they had done it in the privacy of Shepard’s cabin.

“Ah, hn, Com—  _Shane_ ,” he corrected himself quickly, recovering from the minor shock of the kiss. His head dropped until their foreheads were touching. “I thought you  _liked_ playing the hero.”

"Only if you’re not the one who’s in distress,” she remarked mildly. It was better not to dwell on the adrenaline fueled kiss, wasn’t it? 

A chuckle rumbled in the turian’s throat, which just caused Shane to laugh lightly as well. She would have kept going too if he hadn’t then hooked a talon into the collar of her armor, pulling her up to return the kiss. 

As guns cooled, other things simply got warmer. She could fret about what she had done later. For now? Nihlus was no longer in danger and the _Normandy_ was coming around to pick them up. But before then, it didn’t hurt to get in a little inter-species kissing experience, right?


End file.
